1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to transfer points on conveyor belts or other means of conveyance, and more specifically, to an apparatus and method for diverting or directing the flow or movement of material from one means of conveyance such as a first conveyor belt to another means of conveyance such as a second conveyor belt or into storage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conveyor belts are often used to transfer large quantities of materials, such as mineral ores, from one location to another. Transfer points are frequently needed at junction points between two such conveyor belts when the material must be transported in a new direction or at a lower elevation. At these transfer points, material dumps from an initial or first conveyor belt into a chute and onto a subsequent or second conveyor belt. The material typically drops from about 2-3 feet to about 10-20 or more feet in vertical height at transfer points. A frequent problem encountered when using conventional transfer point equipment is that when the material hits the second conveyor belt under the chute, the force of the material impacting against the second conveyor belt causes belt damage such as cuts and/or holes in the conveyor belt surface. Currently, impact beds or impact rollers made of rubber or urethane are used to help absorb impact to the belt, and to therefore prolong the life of the belt. Although conventional impact beds and impact rollers provide some degree of conveyor belt protection through impact absorption, they are not designed to slow and/or redirect the flow of the falling material in order to provide significantly increased levels of conveyor belt impact protection.
Another problem often encountered with the use of conventional transfer point equipment is that some of the material tends to fall off of the second conveyor belt. Although an external skirt board is generally used at transfer points to try to seal the conveyor belt, the material usually hits the second conveyor belt with such a high force that the material blows out the back and sides of the external skirt board. This leads to lost material, increased clean-up costs, and damage to external skirt boards and other nearby equipment.
Conveyor belt cover damage is very costly to repair. Cuts in the surface trap material that later comes out of the cuts and can accumulate on the conveyor belt rollers, thereby damaging the rollers and requiring costly roller replacement. Adjusting and/or replacing worn out external skirt board is costly as well.
In order to alleviate the need for such costly repair and clean-up, new chutes are currently being designed and manufactured. Such attempts to solve the aforementioned problems associated with conventional conveyor belts and transfer points are not only very costly in and of themselves, there is also no convenient method for making adjustments to these pre-manufactured fixed chutes without major cost expenditures.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an inexpensive, convenient, adaptable, durable, and effective apparatus and associated method for reducing impact damage to conveyor belts and for reducing material spillage at transfer points.